Page:The ancient Irish church.djvu/175

 had he found any so froward in their manners, so gloomy in their forms of worship, so unfaithful to their oaths, barbarous in their laws, stiff-necked with regard to discipline, unclean in their lives; Christian in name; in reality, pagans.'

After this terrible tirade he descends to particulars, and it is quite a relief to find that the awful crimes which he so unsparingly condemns are as follows: 'They did not give either tithes or first-fruits; they did not enter into lawful wedlock; they did not make confessions; there could not be found any who either desired penance or would impose it.' This, after all, was only saying that the Church of Ireland was primitive, and not Roman. The only serious charge in the list—that they did not enter into lawful wedlock—can only mean that their marriage rites were not like those of the Romans, for we have abundant evidence that conjugal fidelity was at that time strictly enforced and observed.

In another place he tells us that 'there was throughout the whole of Ireland a relaxation of ecclesiastical discipline, a weakening of authority, a mere empty kind of religion. Everywhere instead of Christian gentleness there has crept in unaware a savage barbarism; indeed, it is a kind of paganism that has been introduced under the Christian name.' Here, again, is a very sweeping statement, and we might be led to conclude from it that religion had altogether departed from the island. We are reassured, however, when we read on, and find that what he means by 'savage barbarism' and 'paganism' is that 'bishops are changed and multiplied, without order, without reason, at the will of the metropolitan, so that one bishopric was not contented with one bishop, but that almost every church must